Snapshot

Alberto Ginastera first came to international attention in the1940s with two ballet scores, Panambí and Estancia, employing nationalist style * From 1952 onwards combined folkloric elements with serial techniques and indeterminacy * Late 1950s and 60s saw series of major US premieres, including Piano Concerto No.1 (Washington), Violin Concerto (New York Philharmonic/Bernstein), Harp Concerto (Philadelphia Orchestra/Ormandy) and Don Rodrigo (New York City Opera) * In 1967 second opera Bomarzo was premiered in Washington, but Buenos Aires production was banned for political reasons and not staged until 1972 * Married cellist Aurora Natola in 1971 and left Argentina for new home in Geneva * Late works, in which folk influences are fully subsumed into a rich and multi-coloured modern idiom, include opera Beatrix Cenci, Glosses for orchestra, Piano Concerto No.2 and two cello concertos

"To compose, in my opinion, is to create an architecture... In music, this architecture unfolds in time... When time has past, when the work has unfolded, a sense of inner perfection survives in the spirit. Only then can one say that the composer has succeeded in creating that architecture." — Alberto Ginastera